VIEWS

There are days that will be remembered, detail for detail, in our minds. And for many of us, Sept. 11, 2001, is undoubtedly one of those days. We, as a nation and as a world, saw the worst in humanity. We witnessed bloodthirsty men, corrupted by hatred, fueled with one desire -- death, chaos and destruction.

I prayed the rosary seven times as I sat in a small cinderblock room watching Joe gasp for air. He finally died one hour and 58 minutes later. In that time of prayer came oneness with Mary in my heart. I realized that no amount of screaming or pleading by me was going to stop what was unfolding. I, too, had to trust in God.

In this part of my series on Pope Francis’ Game Plan, then, it seems helpful to look at key elements of the Ignatian charism that are evident in the Holy Father’s Apostolic Exhortation, the “Joy of the Gospel.”

It’s not very often that a movie has you pondering its message long after the credits roll. “The Giver” (The Weinstein Company), which opened in theaters Aug. 15, is just such a movie.

Once, during a trip to New York City, some friends and I stopped into a restaurant on Seventh Avenue for dinner. I was happily slurping down my pho, a Vietnamese noodle dish, when I heard a familiar voice. The comedian Robin Williams -- Mrs. Doubtfire himself -- was sitting less than 10 feet away, telling hilarious stories to friends gathered around his dinner table.

Phoenix is more than 7,000 miles from Mosul. And yet as I sit and pray here in sunny Arizona, my heart turns to the beleaguered city in Iraq.

There is a close connection between service of the poor, freedom and evangelization. Catholic apostolates integrate service to the poor with joyful witness to Christ; they serve because they love Jesus. They freely receive God’s mercy; they freely give mercy to others in turn. They imitate Jesus in His solidarity with the poor.

Plowing through a formidable stack of mail that accumulated while I was away last month, my eyes fell on a large envelope from Food for the Poor. Inside was a tabloid newspaper with a bold red headline: “Answering the Call.”

Whether it’s global warming or global terror, big government or big corporations, the poison in our food or the poisoning of the airwaves, the temporal world is and always has been filled with problems and challenges. And we must constantly strive to make the world better and safer for humanity.

Pope Francis' words give us insight into some of his top priorities as the Bishop of Rome. It is worthwhile, then, to look briefly at what he writes about parish life today.